Commons
Debate
26 November 2025
Budget Resolutions
One of the things the Chancellor was clear about in her speech was the way we need to continue to build capital investment to improve the long-term growth rate of the economy. Does my hon. Friend agree that projects such as the lower Thames crossing, which will hugely reduce congestion and poor air …
Commons
Ministerial Statement
25 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
On behalf of my constituents, I congratulate the Prime Minister on demonstrating UK leadership by supporting the Ukrainian Government and President Zelensky in turning the 28-point peace plan, which very much appears to have been authored by Russia, into a much more acceptable 19-point peace plan, w…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
Topical Questions
I thank the Secretary of State and the Minister of State for Housing and Planning for visiting Ebbsfleet Garden City in my constituency last week. Does the Minister agree that, with an additional 10,000 homes to be built in Ebbsfleet over the next 10 years, to create great places to live we have got…
Commons
Debate
20 November 2025
International Men’s Day
I thank my hon. Friend for her excellent speech. I have heard her talk glowingly about her boys to me and to others, and she is doing them real justice in her speech. I believe she is absolutely right to welcome the men’s health strategy, which was published yesterday; it is a fantastic document and…
Commons
Westminster Hall
17 November 2025
Parkinson’s Disease
My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. She mentioned the Parkinson’s group in her constituency. In my constituency, the wonderful Mervyn Dunkley, Jane Hua and their team run brilliant weekly Parkinson’s move and shout classes at the Fairfield leisure centre in Dartford for people living with …
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
12 November 2025
Engagements
Q11. I have long thought that you, Mr Speaker, and the Prime Minister would suit a magnificent moustache—and I am sure that you would be capable of growing a better one than mine. Many men, inside and outside this House, are growing our taches out this month to highlight the need for our health syst…
Commons
Debate
11 November 2025
BBC Leadership
I welcome the statement from the Secretary of State, and particularly her strong support for the BBC as an institution that belongs to us all. With the BBC regularly rated worldwide as one of the most trusted global news sources, does she agree that a strong BBC acts as a bulwark against misinformat…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 November 2025
Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access
My hon. Friend is making a passionate speech. In a past life, as a cabinet member for health in a local authority, I was active in promoting a voucher scheme run by the Alexandra Rose charity and the Beacon Project, which offered families in need vouchers they could redeem for fresh fruit and veg at…
Commons
Debate
30 October 2025
Property Service Charges
I welcome this debate warmly. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) for securing it, and for her excellent speech introducing it, and to other Members for their great contributions.
Property service charges, whether for freeholders who have purchased homes on unadopted new bui…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Business of the House
I warmly welcome the news today from the Office of Rail and Road that competition can start on international rail lines to the continent, and I thank the Government for their strong support for that. Does the Leader of the House agree that it is vital that the new operator, Virgin, commits to restor…
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
2 contributions
International Baccalaureate: Funding in State Schools
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for securing this important debate and for his thoughtful opening speech.
Dartford grammar school is a historic institution in my constituency, which has been providing e…
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In my constituency, the IB is available to children from low-income backgrounds and is particularly attractive because it provides young people with additional stretch and challenge and breaks down barriers to opportunity—not only in top universities, which is ver…
Commons
Debate
28 October 2025
Stamp Duty Land Tax
Like many in this House and many of my constituents in Dartford, I have had the dubious pleasure of paying stamp duty. I can testify to the fact that doing so when buying a home is not a pleasant experience. That is one small reason why I am sympathetic to the case for reform of property taxation in…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
Topical Questions
T3. We recently had brilliant news in Dartford for young people in the constituency and across the region, with North Kent college designated as a technical excellence college, with a focus on transforming construction training. That is perfect for the lower Thames crossing just coming on stream. Th…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
15 October 2025
Engagements
Q12. After 14 years of neglect, this Government are renewing the infrastructure of Britain—and for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, that is spelt B-R-I-T-A-I-N. Nowhere is this renewal more clearly needed than at the A226 Galley Hill Road in Swanscombe in my constituency, which collap…
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
International Rail Services: Ashford
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) on securing this important debate, and I agree with every word she said while opening it.
It is also a pleasure to speak on an issue on which there is broad …
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
Postural Tachycardia Syndrome
A decade ago my constituent Laura Cordell, who has lived with PoTS for 10 years, was rushed to A&E with a dangerously high heart rate. She was later told by a doctor that she had PoTS symptoms, but she was just told to go away and take more salt, with no follow-up or referral. Over the next 10 y…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
13 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
On an inspiring visit this weekend to Bromley Reform synagogue, which serves my constituents in Dartford alongside those of my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon) and the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune), I was moved by the strong views of the congrega…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 September 2025
Children with SEND: Assessments and Support
Before the summer recess, I ran a consultation session in Dartford for parents, carers, schools and local organisations to discuss their experiences of SEND. I have provided a full report to the Department for Education to inform the White Paper. Would the hon. Member agree with my constituents’ top…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
11 September 2025
Suicide Prevention
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme (Lee Pitcher) for securing this debate on what I think we can all agree is a critical national public health issue. It is a timely debate given yesterday’s World Suicide Prevention Day, promoted by the wonderful Sa…
Commons
Westminster Hall
8 September 2025
Indefinite Leave to Remain
My hon. Friend is making an excellent case on what those with BNO visas are being put through by this White Paper and the proposed legislation. In Dartford, I have been contacted by a large number of people on skilled visas who are in a very similar situation. Does he agree that, whatever the situat…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
4 September 2025
Early Education and Childcare
The latest figures show that Dartford has seen the second largest rise in families with children of any area in the country, so my constituents will hugely welcome the additional free childcare hours and the new school nurseries that will result from this week’s announcement. Does the Minister agree…
Commons
Proceedings
3 September 2025
Property Taxes
Does the Minister agree that it is thanks to the tight fiscal rules that this Government have introduced and the changes in the Budget that since the election my residents in Dartford have seen an investment in the lower Thames crossing? They have wanted that for 15 years, and it was not delivered u…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
Topical Questions
T6. I warmly commend the locally led £100 million Connect to Work programme, which supports those facing complex barriers to employment to get into work and to stay in work. A constituent of mine, Charlie, has explained to me some of the barriers to work that he experiences living with autism spectr…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
21 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
I welcome the statement. Residents in Dartford will be impressed by the Government’s ambitious commitment to halve sewage pollution in our lakes, rivers and seas within five years. They have had to put up with the poor performance of Thames Water for too long. Does the Secretary of State agree that,…
Commons
Westminster Hall
15 July 2025
SEND Provision: South-east England
I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this incredibly important debate; the number of people who wish to speak is a testament to that. As one Kent MP to another, I agree that the problems he is outlining—the inability to access the system because EHCPs and other assessments take so long, and th…